ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- The president of the Russian Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, presided at the ceremonial opening of an Ingush Cultural Center in Almaty on October 30, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

At a meeting with leaders of the Ingush diaspora in Kazakhstan, Yevkurov said: "I envy you that you are living here in peace, keeping the traditions of your ancestors."

Yevkurov arrived in Kazkahstan on October 28, although Kazakh state media did not report on his visit.

Yevkurov -- who was appointed head of Ingushetia by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last year -- was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt on his convoy in Ingushetia in June.

There are some 20,000 ethnic Ingush in Kazakhstan living as Kazakh citizens.